Astronomy 101

● Instructor: T. Howard (thowardz@unm.edu)

● Text: Astronomy, 7th ed., Chaisson & Macmillan

● Course outline: see Syllabus

● Class website:

● Office hours: by appointment, see me before/after class

A Good Time to Study Astronomy

• Recent and ongoing planetary missions

• Detection and study of exosolar planets(planets around other stars)

• New ideas and questions about the verynature of the Universe

• Latest Nobel Prize awarded for detectionof accelerating expansion of the

Universe (?)

Figure 0.1

NASA; J. Lodrigus; NOAA

Figure 1.3

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Asteroid Eros (closeup)(from the NEAR mission)

Asteroid Gaspra (u. left),Phobos, Deimos (bottom)

NGC 4013

Foundations of AstronomyThe Metric System

(used by scientists and foreigners)

Mass

1 kilogram (kg) = 1000 grams (g)

100 kg = 220 lbs

We tend to use mass and weight interchangeably, but weight depends on gravity.

Distance

1 meter (m) = 100 centimeters (cm)1 m = 1.1 yards (approx.)1 cm = 0.4 inches (approx.)

Volume

1 cubic centimeter or 1 cm3

(about the size of a sugar cube)

Density

Density = Mass (g / cm3) Volume

Densities of Common Substances

Balsa Wood 0.13 g / cm3

Oak 0.7Water 1.0Average Rock 2.4Iron 7.9Lead 11.3Gold 19.3

Temperature

The Celsius Scale:

0 oC = freezing point of water ( = 32 F)100 oC = boiling point of water ( = 212 F)

The Kelvin Scale:

T(K) = T(oC) + 273 oC

"Absolute zero" 0 K = - 273 oC

Angles

90o

20o

360o, or 360 degrees, in a circle.

1o = 60' or arcminutes1' = 60" or arcseconds1" = 1000 mas or milli-arcseconds

Scientific Notation

Powers, or exponents, of 10:

100 = 102 (= 10 x 10) 1000 = 103 (= 10 x 10 x 10)10 = 101 1 = 100 0.1 = 10 -1 0.007 = 7 x 10 -3

4000 x 0.002 = (4 x 103) x (2 x 10 -3)= 8 x 100 = 8

Add the exponents

In astronomy, we deal with:

1. Vast distances

- Radius of Earth = 6400 km = 6.4 x 108 cm

- Distance to Sun = 1.5 x 1013 cm = 23500 Earth radii = 1 Astronomical Unit (AU)

- Distance to next nearest star (Proxima Centauri): 270,000 AU = 4.3 "light years" (light year: distance light travels in one year, 9.5 x 1012 km. Speed of light: c = 3 x 108 m/sec)

- Size of Milky Way Galaxy: about 100,000 light years

- Distance to next large galaxy (Andromeda): 2 x 106 light years

2. Huge masses:

- Mass of Earth = 6 x 1024 kg = 6 x 1027 g = 1 MEarth

(or 6000 billion billion tons)

- Mass of Sun = 2 x 1030 kg = 2 x 1033 g = 1 MSun

= 1 "Solar Mass" = 333,000 M

Earth

- Mass of Milky Way galaxy: 6 x 1011 MSun

3. Long ages and times:

- Age of Earth and Solar System: 4.5 billion years = 4.5 x 109 years

- Lifetime of stars: about 106 - 1010 years

- Age of universe: about 1010 years

4. Very high and low temperatures:

- An interstellar "molecular cloud": T = 10 K

- Center of Sun: T = 1.5 x 107 K

What is the relationship of Astronomy to:

-- Physics ?

-- Chemistry ?

-- Math ?

-- Biology ?

Phases of Astronomy as a Science –

• Understanding motions of moon planets

• Cataloguing and Classifying Stars, Nebulae

• Using Physics and Chemistry to explain stars,Nebulae, and Galaxies

• Trying to explain the Size, Shape, and Behavior ofthe Universe as a Whole

• Searching for Life Elsewhere in the Universe• Exploring the Solar System Directly

Chapter Opener 0

The Sky at Night

What do we see?

The MoonPlanetsPerhaps a meteor shower, comet, or other rare eventStars - about 3000 visiblePatterns of stars - constellations 88 of them Useful for finding our way around the sky, navigating the oceansSatellites, airplanes, clouds, lightning, light pollution ...

Figure 0.3

The Celestial Sphere

Features:- Does not rotate with Earth- Poles, Equator- Coordinate System

An ancient concept, as if all objects at same distance.

But to find things on sky, don't need to know their distance, so still useful today.

Figure 0.6

The "Solar Day" and the "Sidereal Day"

Solar Day

How long it takes for the Sun to return to the same position in the sky (24 hours).

Sidereal Day

How long it takes for the Earth to rotate 360o on its axis.

These are not the same!

One solar day later, the Earth has rotated slightly more than 360o .A solar day is longer than a sidereal day by 3.9 minutes(24 hours vs. 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds).

Figure 0.7a

Figure 0.7b

Ancient cultures observed the sky ...

... Egypt ...

... ancient Britons ...

... native Americans ...